Chapter 709: Nine Tailed Ice-Viper

The Nine-Tailed Ice-Viper was a massive, 50-meter-long serpentine creature with a sleek, elongated body covered in smooth, pale-blue scales that gradually faded into pure white along its underside.

And even though its sheer size was terrifying on its own, what added to the menace were the 9 serpentine tails ending in thick, pointed icicles that looked capable of one-shotting anyone except Leo.

Each tail was an extra 30 meters long, meaning the total length of the beast was 80 meters!

Its narrow eyes glowed with a cold, frost-blue light, and icy mist surrounded its body, rapidly condensing into ice crystals. It seemed that the surrounding humid air outside the snowfield was flowing into this region, which didn't allow the region to become as cold as it needed to be.

Even the Viper realised the same, and the next moment—

SHRAAKKKK—!

A sudden wave of cold mana erupted from its body, and the next second came the icy storm.

TWOOOSSHHH!!

Since it didn't seem to have the wind element, the coldness or ice was forced into the surroundings from its being, which made pointed snow pillars facing away from the Viper's position start jutting out of the icy field.

"Dodge!"

Just one attack, and the group's formation was completely disrupted as they and their beasts jumped away from the protruding icy columns.

The beast immediately sensed their presence, and obviously, the first one to get targeted was Leo, with his Peak 4-star radiating strength.

Two icicle tails snapped through the ice cloud with blinding speed. When Leo realised an attack had been made, it was already too late.

[Mountain Aura Dome]!

In an instant, 5 aura domes flared in front of him; he could do no more since the tails were already on his face.

The icicles were even bigger than his whole body.

Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!

All the domes shattered like weak glass. Even though the first four layers managed to stop one tail, the second tail broke through the 5th layer and struck Leo right in the chest.

Thum!

Leo was thrown back through the ice field.

"LEO!!" Ronan called while landing on top of a pointed ice column. He heated his foot to a great degree in order to immediately melt the ice and create a firm foothold.

But Leo hadn't even flown 50 meters away when he flipped his body and landed on the snowfield, coming to a halt by dragging his feet back.

"I am fine! Don't get distracted!"

Leo didn't even bother to check his injury because he wasn't hurt that much. There seemed to be some bruising under his clothes, especially at the point of impact, evident from a small dent on his chest that made the bones slightly cave in.

But they immediately healed up.

He quickly assessed the situation: Thalvyr—who was attacked at the same time as Leo—had jumped high and was currently running along the length of the striking tail to close in and strike the Viper with his spear.

Cecil seemed to have ridden her horse alongside Plato while creating distance from the jutting ice pillar, while Ronan and Sentinel seemed to be looking for an opportunity to close in.

"Ronan! Take your beast and step back! Provide assistance from a distance; this beast is too strong!"

Leo ordered, and Ronan immediately followed. Even though his sword was already out to initiate an attack, he wouldn't disobey the leader's order.

The same order was given to Cecil, after which Leo rushed in while summoning Nyxa to circle the perimeter.

"AWOOOOO!!!"

"Leo's beast!" Ronan exclaimed, seeing Nyxa for the first time.

But the very next moment, countless astral wolves emerged from the surroundings and started charging alongside Leo while Nyxa positioned herself to defend Ronan and Cecil.

"Fuck... Are we really this weak in comparison?" Ronan muttered, realising that Leo was simultaneously defending them too.

In the Emperor's chamber, all 3 emperors leaned in when Nyxa used her [Astral Legion Manifestation] skill.

"A skill that allows her to summon followers..." Cyrandel muttered, and Aurex continued.

"Royal Bloodline... might be a high-tier noble too, but..."

"The summons are way too high-level... So a solid Royal." Louis finished.

He pointed at the 2 largest astral summons.

"Peak 3-star, High 3-star, all the while, their height is around 8 meters..."

"And it seemed that the beast has a size-adjustment ability to make it look only 4 meters tall. I bet that wolf's true size might be 9 meters or even 10 if it's old enough."

"How lucky does one need to be to obtain a royal beast in the wild?" Aurex chuckled.

Though Cyrandel looked a bit sceptical that Louis might have provided Leo with one, Louis himself remained quiet, contemplating if Leo's talent was really as monstrous as his sister had said.

Because so far, it seemed to be exactly the case.

"Well, all the better for humans..." He looked at Cyrandel.

"Now elves too."

Cyrandel nodded in agreement.

"Though... if he already has a royal beast, then we will need to be ready to provide him with something more worthwhile."

To this, only Cyrandel and Louis seemed to be in thought. Aurex was rather relaxed; if things came down to it, he would just provide Leo with a royal dragon egg. Nothing would make a human like Leo happier than having a dragon to tame.

This way, Aurex wouldn't lose any valuable treasure and could even establish some sort of connection with Leo through the dragon.

Back to the snowfield...

Clang!

Leo sharply parried a tail strike with his sword that was trying to bind him. The strike shattered the pale-blue scales and even revealed the soft skin underneath, which immediately caught fire with the neon-green flames—a mix of [Violet Hellbrand] and [Netherblight Poison].

"Good! It doesn't have regenerative skills!"

SKKRAAAHHHH!

The beast screeched in agony when it felt the poison eat away at its tail, but it didn't get any rest as swarms of astral wolves charged towards it. It prepared to attack Leo with the same tail and shot—

Slice!

Leo sliced at the same damaged part, and this time, a section 20 meters from the tail was cleanly sliced off from the main body.

But suddenly, something surprising happened.

When the bleeding tail landed on the snow, turning it red, it started to writhe, and suddenly, 2 smaller vipers—without the nine tails—appeared. Each was 20 meters long, the same as the sliced section, and almost identical in appearance to the main body.

Ice-Viper [Summon] (Low 3-star)

Ice-Viper [Summon] (Low 3-star)

30 minutes had already passed since the fight began when someone suddenly contacted Leo.

"Leo, some elves seem to be on their way to attack our stronghold," Lily informed him.

"Can you handle them?" Leo asked while preparing a [Flame Torrent] mid-jump.

"Of course."